Create Your Own

‘The president understands people’s impatience – not impatience but how a war can wear on a nation,’ Mr. Snow said on the CNN program ‘Late Edition.’‘He understands that. If somebody had taken a poll in the Battle of theBulge, I dare say people would have said, ‘Wow, my goodness, what are we doing here?’ But you cannot conduct a war based on polls.’

Yeah, Tony. ‘Hitler, Schmitler’ was the general attitude back then. Less than five months before the German surrender, few Americans believed in the war and most were wondering, ‘Wow, my goodness, what are we doing here?’

Or wait. It was exactly the opposite.

I do think that if, after the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor, we had invaded Iraq, people might well have wondered, ‘Wow, my goodness, what are we doing here?’ But back then, we struck back at the countries that were striking us and our allies.

Of the 19 hijackers, 15 were Saudi, none was Iraqi, and Iraq had nothing to do with 9/11. Yet we rushed to invade Iraq without adequate planning or strength, at disastrous cost to our nation – and, yes, Tony, people are wondering, ‘Wow, my goodness, what are we doing here?’

CREATE YOUR OWN $15 MILLION MASTERPIECE

Kathryn Lance: ‘Check this one out! Play around with your mouse, see what happens when you left-click, and right-click for more options.’

CREATE YOUR OWN DUST STORM

Stephen Gilbert: ‘I hate to mention this, but there was an NPR report the other day on our western deserts. It appears that there are microscopic plants that grow in the deserts that bind the soil and prevent dust storms. Cattle and off-road vehicles destroy these plants. The wind blows and voila: more dust storms than before.’

CREATE YOUR OWN TREE

Sergei Slobodov: ‘Just to make it clear: According to the Quantum Mechanics, if a tree falls in the forest and no one can hear it fall, not only there was no sound, there was no tree.’

☞ Now THAT makes sense.

TXCO

We first considered this stock in 2004, at $4.50. We sold most of it at various prices between $6.50 and $11. I bought more yesterday at $9.05. It’s a small speculative domestic oil producer, but not as speculative as it once was – and not as widely followed as the big guys. All the usual cautions apply (really!), but I could see it at $20 in two or three years.

NOT JUST ROGER EBERT

Neal Roach: ‘David Denby, in last week’s New Yorker: ‘Every school, college, and church group, and everyone else beyond the sway of General Motors, ExxonMobil, and the White House should see this movie, and, with luck, they will.’ ‘